"As we stand here today, our country is still reeling from a recession that’s as tough, as deep and as dire as anything that we’ve known for generations. And I don’t need to tell you a lot of families are hurting out there; businesses are struggling; one in 10 Americans can’t find work. So I know that during these tough times, folks at this company feel relatively lucky to be working — even when the work is hard and the days are long, because everybody knows that there’s somebody out there who’s not as fortunate — a friend or a neighbor, maybe even a husband or a wife.
But even in the face of these challenges, we have reason to remain hopeful. As I was listening to Terry and Joe talk about some of the business opportunities that are out there for solar panel construction and high-speed rail construction, the great work that they’re doing on behalf of our troops as part of a contract — all those things are going to be making a difference. And it points to the possibilities of sustainable growth.
And the fact is we’re standing in a very different place than we were just a year ago. Just last year, businesses were cutting 700,000 jobs per month. The markets were plummeting. Many people feared another Great Depression. Today, we’ve stopped the flood of job losses, we’ve stabilized the financial system, and we can safely say that we’ve avoided that looming depression.
This morning we received a report that affirms our progress — and the swift and aggressive actions that made it possible. We learned that the economy grew over the past three months at a rate of 5.7 percent. Now, just to give you a sense of perspective there, that’s the fastest economic growth in six years, and it’s a stark improvement over the rapid and terrible decline that we were experiencing one year ago."
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